Abbeygate Care Centre

Updated 16 October 2019

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Abbeygate is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with four people who used the service and seven relatives and/or visitors about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 4 members of care staff and the provider, registered manager, team leader and the visiting hairdresser. We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records and four medication records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed. Following the inspection the provider sent us information regarding improvements that had been made at the service.

Updated 16 October 2019

About the service

Abbeygate Care Centre is a residential care home that is registered to provide providing personal care and accommodation for up to 17 older people. At the time of the inspection the service was supporting 17 people.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

The provider had quality assurance systems in place and action had been taken to make improvements. However, a number of issues identified during the inspection had not been picked up by the provider’s audits. Maintenance work that had been identified by the provider had not been completed in a timely manner.

People felt safe and were supported by staff who had received training in how to recognise, report and act on any signs of abuse. Staff were aware of the risks to people and how to manage those risks on a daily basis.

Safe systems of recruitment were in place. A dependency tool was in place to assist the registered manager in ensuring people were supported by sufficient numbers of staff. People were supported to take their medicines as prescribed. Accidents and incidents were reported and acted on and analysed for any lessons to be learnt.

Staff felt supported and well trained. New staff benefitted from an induction that included shadowing more experienced members of staff and being given time to get to know people living at the service. Staff supported people to access a variety of healthcare services in order to maintain good health.

Staff were seen to be kind, caring and compassionate in their approach and treated people with dignity and respect. Families felt welcomed and listened to and were positive about the care their loved ones received.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People were involved in the development of their care plans and were supported by staff who knew them well and what was important to them. People had no complaints and were confident that if they raised concerns they would be dealt with appropriately.

People were complimentary of the service and considered it to be well led. Staff felt supported and listened to and were confident any concerns they may raise would be dealt with appropriately.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 9 March 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.